Wilsons Selling Up. The Lot. All 700 Houses.

fc123

guppy wrote: »

P.S. Could all the people jabbering about Tesco do it elsewhere...dull, dull, dull compared to Fergus Wilson's antics.

I disagree.... Tesco's activities are very important and, wherever they can be discussed, the better to enlighten another fellow human on their business model.

The Wilsons are symbolic of a something..hence the virtriol from some.

Likewise, Tesco are symbolic of an oligopolistic business model masked as caring, ''aren't we nice, we are saving you money''.. err Not.
But people still fall for it. Of course they are the cheapest in your area..they knocked everyone else out.

The Wilsons' Achilles heel is their Vanity. They just couldn't help themselves. I'll bet there are many Wilson type portfolios out there, but anonymous, they just flagged themselves up.
As for the horses....what a wally....I'll bet he lost more on them than the houses.

They are like the dreadful A4E woman and G Bovey...the danger is believing ones own hype. Trust me, I know about these things .

Anyway, Cleaver and I do share a passion aftereall ...a hatred of Tesco and all they stand for.....as they are symbolic of many businesses that, I feel, try to turn us (the whole population) into drones.

bluey890

Hmmmm, Tesco, aren't they the good guys. Not.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209095/Tesco-guilty-of-using-bogus-statistics-convince-town-needed-supermarket.html

dopester

Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »

They're not chavs though are they? What you describe is exactly what people from less advantaged backgrounds tend to do when they come into money - spend it on their appearance. It's a classic class divide isn't it?

I live in an extraordinarily wealthy old-money area (I'm the local peasant) and these people don't spend their money on clothes, handbags and make-up.

Hope you're not suggesting they are old-money with simple tastes. :rolleyes:

I have them marked down as much worse than chavs with their 900+ FTB house buying, totally getting-off on press attention during the boom and lapping it up in multiple interviews, and for other reasons.

There have been snippets about their background through all the press interviews they've done over the years. Can't be bothered linking to them but some which implied parents with failed businesses IIRC. In my view, they'll be following their own parent's examples with failure.

One from her side:

Judith Wilson's formative years were spent in rural Northamptonshire. Her grandparents had built up a thriving nursery business, but when her father took control, it failed disastrously, and he was forced to sell for a pittance.
"That riled me a little bit," she reflects.
"I watched other business coming up, and thought: 'Why not us?'"

Another from his:

After leaving Goldsmiths in the early 1960s, Fergus spent a period sleeping rough in Greenwich Park. "I know every blade of grass in that park," he says.

Also I've read a couple of articles in which his clothes have been mentioned. Both implied they were not simple cheerful cheap gear, but some real wedge spent on clothes. Here is one example, although not the main one I recall.

The idea is for parents to buy a £10,000 stake for their children at birth, so that by the time their son or daughter reaches the age of 21, the investment will be worth £80,000; sufficient for a deposit on their first home.

The sharply contrasting manner in which they have chosen to expand their respective careers reveals how utterly different they are.

In his brick-red blazer and candy-striped shirt - custom-made by Turnbull & Asser for his 22in neck - former rugby prop-forward Fergus Wilson is a ruddy-cheeked, refrigerator-proportioned figure, with a blustering manner and a booming voice.

mewbie_2

Yeah what happened to that brilliant idea?

The idea is for parents to buy a £10,000 stake for their children at birth, so that by the time their son or daughter reaches the age of 21, the investment will be worth £80,000; sufficient for a deposit on their first home.

Wonder how many people gave Judith 10k? Still only got to wait 21 years for it to come back I guess?

PasturesNew

So not content to stiff current people/FTBs ... they worked out how to stiff the next generation too. Genius.

mewbie_2

Bit of a read and a few tips...

"Never Use your own Money"

http://www.jwipb.co.uk/how.asp

JanCee

I've never really understood the 'cult' of the Wilsons. The media lauded them in the boom times and now seemed determined to bring them down. In reality they were never the financial geniuses that the press portrayed.

I have to say though, I really hope that no TV company is stupid enough to give either of them a property programme. They were a pair of teachers that struck lucky. If they were financially astute they would have sold up in 2007.

mewbie_2

Searched the net, can't find any trace of the "Judith Wilson Investment Property Bond". Guess it never happened.

JanCee

mewbie wrote: »

Searched the net, can't find any trace of the "Judith Wilson Investment Property Bond". Guess it never happened.

Well thank goodness for that.

IveSeenTheLight

carolt wrote: »

I know they're ex-maths teachers, who - let's face it - aren't famed for their sartorial elegace - I mean maths teachers are ex-maths students :eek: after all..... But still - I just don't see how they can be as rich as they claim and look that bad.

Carol,

I'm surprised you have such venomous comments for colleagues and ex-colleagues (teachers).

We all have our own strengths and Maths teachers are obviously good withfigures and equations, while you obviously have your strengths in other areas (as you are not a Maths teacher I presume)

Otherwise, most of your post is about vanity which of course could be described as one of the seven deadly sins